Former Lackawanna County Commissioner A.J. Munchak turned down a plea bargain that would have resulted in a 36-month sentence and was convicted only because he was tried jointly with fellow ex-Commissioner Robert C. Cordaro, his son argues in a letter to a federal judge.

Anthony J. Munchak Jr. wrote that he feels "helpless," argued the system "failed" his father and asked Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo "to use the extraordinary legal powers that you have as a federal judge to right this wrong in some way."

"As you might guess, our whole family is devastated by the outcome of the trial," Mr. Munchak wrote to Judge Caputo, who presided over the 12-day federal corruption trial that convicted A.J. Munchak and Mr. Cordaro. Efforts to reach the Munchaks and attorney Christopher T. Powell, the ex-commissioner's lawyer, were unsuccessful Tuesday evening.

The letter was posted on the federal online court docket Tuesday. It is dated June 21, the day a jury convicted A.J. Munchak and Mr. Cordaro. A.J. Munchak resigned as commissioner the next day.

The jury found A.J. Munchak guilty of eight of 21 counts, including extortion. He faces up to 93 years in prison and $2 million in fines. Mr. Cordaro was convicted of 18 of 33 counts, including extortion, racketeering and money laundering. He faces up to 229 years in prison and $4.5 million in fines.

The letter appears to confirm that A.J. Munchak rejected a plea bargain that would have brought him a substantially lighter sentence than he faces. The letter refers to "a plea deal of 36 months," but it is unclear whether that term would be for prison, house arrest, probation or some other punishment.

"Quite simply, when one gets to the heart of the matter, my father will be sent to prison for life based simply upon one man's word - Don Kalina's," Mr. Munchak wrote.

Mr. Kalina, a co-owner of Highland Associates architecture and engineering firm in Clarks Summit, testified he twice gave Mr. Munchak $30,000 in $100 bills and once did that for Mr. Cordaro to ensure the company kept getting paid on time for its county contracts.

During the trial, prosecutors presented $43,000 in gambling "markers" - short-term loans from casinos - that Mr. Munchak took out in 2005. The markers were used as evidence he was gambling far more heavily than he could afford based on his commissioner salary and other legal income.

"It doesn't make sense that a person who gives blood every six weeks like clockwork (180 pints is top ten in PA) and has over 200 years of community service with 20 organizations would demand money like that," Anthony Munchak wrote. All the community service is "now irrelevant and is vastly outweighed by the stain of this conviction," he wrote. "The only explanation for this conviction is that the jury was unduly swayed by the evidence against and the testimony from Bob Cordaro," Anthony Munchak wrote.

He argues jurors ignored the judge's instructions to separate each charge and weigh "evidence of each one individually."

"Rhetorically speaking, isn't it reasonable to assume that if my dad was tried alone, the trial would have lasted only three or four days, and the outcome would have most likely been different?" Anthony Munchak wrote. "Instead, the jury listened to two weeks of damning testimony regarding the more numerous charges against Mr. Cordaro.

"My dad rejected a plea deal of 36 months because he had confidence in the system, and he had the truth on his side. On June 21, the system failed him."

The former commissioners will be sentenced Wednesday, Sept. 28.

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com

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